I know the college graduation season is already over, but hey, this is a college blog, and it will always be about college ideas.  If you’re one of the fortunate ones to speak at your college graduation, it can be a very stressful moment, because you’re going to have to think about what you’re going to say, and if you’re not good with crowds, it may even worry you more.

If you’re looking for some tips, or some ideas, there are many places that you can start to give a killer speech that will last forever with your university.

What is your message going to be?

The first thing that you want to decide is what you want to talk about.  What do you want to share?  You want to be unique, and remember, try to stay away from the cliches.  “I want to thank my professor, and my college for giving me a great education” isn’t really going to cut it, and make it memorable for others.

Try and make it entertaining

Honestly, with most speeches that I watch, they tend to boring.  You want to get your audience going right off the bat.  Whether you have a funny joke prepared about your school, or something that keeps them off the edge of your seat.  This is where you want to be creative, and fun as well with your speech.

It shouldn’t be 15 minutes

A graduation speech shouldn’t be 15 minutes long.  Instead, try and make it as short as possible.  As I mentioned already, you don’t want to be boring, and have your audience fall asleep.  Instead, think of a short 1 – 5 minute top speech.  Anything longer may put your class to sleep.

Always practice

Get a group of friends together when you get your speech prepared.  You’ll want to do this in front of an audience to see if you’re making any mistakes.  Ask for any advice on how to make the speech better, and tell them you won’t be offended if you want to change something.

If you want to research the topic more, Amazon has a great selection of graduation books.

Check out these YouTube videos for graduation speech ideas: